


Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Chapter Notes

by karoffelbrei89



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Archived From Tumblr, Harry Potter meta, Meta, Meta Essay, Nonfiction, chapter notes, cross-posted from tumblr, hp meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 11:24:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 9,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17042825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karoffelbrei89/pseuds/karoffelbrei89
Summary: Part of my great Potter re-read, chapter notes to every book. Crossposting from tumblr (https://hufflly-puffs.tumblr.com).





	1. Chapter 1: The Worst Birthday & Chapter 2: Dobby’s Warning

**_Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_   
**

**Chapter 1: The Worst Birthday**

  * Let’s start our look at book 2 with fatphobia. Which is a thing, especially when it comes to Dudley. Because there is hardly any mention of him without a comment about his weight. And admittedly it is something that I never noticed before but that has been brought to my attention and now it is impossible not to see. And of course not every character that is overweight is described as fat – characters like Molly Weasley & Professor Sprout are simply described as plump. But that is because Harry likes them – whereas Dudley has been his abuser for 10 years. And the story is after all told from his perspective. And yet it is problematic how Dudley, as a negative character, is in almost every sentence associated with his weight, in the same way that Harry, our hero, is described multiple times as skinny.


  * And again magic is associated with abnormality, at least by uncle Vernon, which makes Harry, if you will, a queer character (“[…] _because Harry wasn’t a normal boy_ ”).



**Chapter 2: Dobby’s Warning**

  * Looking back it is really just the first book that describes the wizarding world as innocent (apart from the crazy mass murderer who killed Harry’s parents), because in book 2 already we get a closer look at the uglier sides of the wizard society. And of course it starts with the introduction of Dobby and house elves as an integral part of said society. Which is built upon the slavery of an entire species. In this book we only get glimpses, as we focus on Dobby and his treatment specifically, and it isn’t until book 4 (and S.P.E.W.) that we look at house elves and their place in the magical community as a whole. But I admit that I find them utterly fascinating and that they do inform us a great deal about the magical world.


  * Again, what we see in book 2 is Dobby’s individual situation and how Harry reacts to it. He sincerely cares about Dobby and his first instinct is to help him. It is implied that Dobby’s fate isn’t singular, that there must be many more house elves living under similar circumstances, but at least Harry (as our narrator) doesn’t see this bigger picture yet and what it tells us about the wizarding world.


  * I wonder if Dobby’s need to hurt himself whenever he talks bad about his family is something house elves in general are forced to do, or if it was a specific spell the Malfoys used on their house elf.


  * Also, an entire race that lives to serve, made me wonder if the wizards themselves somehow created house elves or bred them, because it always seemed unnatural to me, given how intelligent, empathic and powerful house elves are. They are classified as Beings, not Beasts, and have their own very powerful magic, so my own personal headcanon is that wizards at some point deliberated enslaved them in a way that made them happy to serve and therefore unlikely to revolt.


  * I just really love house elves and I think they are highly underestimated, and I love how exactly this underestimation of their powers lead to the destruction of a Horcrux and this doesn’t even happen in this book, so I stop talking now.


  * (HOUSE ELVES!!!!)


  * Also, Dobby speaks of Harry’s greatness and Harry’s first instinct is to say that he is not even top of his class, that would be Hermione, and sometimes this kid is just too adorable.


  * When Harry asks Dobby if Voldemort is behind the mortal danger that awaits him at Hogwarts, his answer is “ _Not – not He Who Must Not Be Named, sir_ ”, which is technically correct, because Tom Riddle is not Voldemort yet, but also the most useless answer ever.


  * I always wondered how the Ministry of Magic is able to trace magic. They know that a spell has been used in Privet Drive, yet they don’t know it was used by a house elf. And if you can put traces on spells, shouldn’t it be possible to put traces on the Unforgivable Curses?


  * Harry gets the bare minimum of food and yet he shares it with Hedwig, which again, is adorable.




	2. Chapter 3: The Burrow

**_Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_   
**

**Chapter 3: The Burrow**

  * Fact: Fred & George are more capable than most wizards because they took the time to learn muggle tricks like picking a lock, which means they are not utterly helpless even when they are not allowed to use magic.


  * YOU FED YOUR OWL EVERY DAY AND THEN IT IS HER YOU FORGET IN YOUR ROOM? SHAME ON YOU HARRY JAMES POTTER!


  * After Harry escapes the Dursleys and tells the Weasleys what happened, Fred & George turn his story around, and start to spread doubt in Harry about Dobby, making it look like a cruel joke, saying that even though house elves have powerful magic they can’t do anything without their master’s permission, so Dobby was probably sent on purpose to Harry to stop him from going back to Hogwarts. Harry & Ron’s first instinct is to blame Draco Malfoy. This is interesting as it is later revealed that Dobby is indeed the Malfoy’s house elf, but also that there were horrible wrong in assuming Dobby was sent by Draco (or any other Malfoy). I think Lucius Malfoy didn’t explicit forbid Dobby to warn Harry, because without a doubt he would have never assumed that Dobby was aware of his plan or cared enough about Harry, underestimating his servant slave completely.


  * We also first hear about Percy’s odd behaviour, which will continue at Hogwarts, and it is hilarious that none of his brother ever considered Percy simply got himself a girlfriend.


  * I just love the Weasleys and their family dynamics and their chaotic house and everything.


  * Flying cars are cool, but I would have loved to see Molly & Arthur Weasley on a rescue mission in Privet Drive as well. Can you imagine how mad Molly would have been after she found out that they had locked Harry up?


  * This is also the chapter where Gilderoy Lockhart is first mentioned, as Mrs. Weasley consults his book to find out the best way to de-gnome their garden. And I’m pretty sure that she knows how to do this, so it is a bit odd that she looks it up again, to see what the (male) authority has to say about the subject. I think a closer look at Molly Weasley (but also Lockhart) tells us already a lot about women and feminism in the wizarding world, but more about that in the next chapter.


  * I love Arthur Weasley and his love for all things Muggle, because instead of looking down on them, he is impressed by the ways they get by without magic and the things they invented to do so. Even more so, he thinks wizards can learn from them, and seeing how medieval the wizarding society still is, he is right about that.


  * Also I would love to read a copy of “ _The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle_ ”.




	3. Chapter 4: At Flourish and Blotts

**_Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_   
**

**Chapter 4: At Flourish and Blotts**

  * “ _What Harry found most unusual about life at Ron’s, however, wasn’t the talking mirror or the clanking ghoul: it was the fact that everybody there seemed to like him.”_ – Hogwarts is great and all, but it isn’t until Harry spends time at the Burrow that for the first time he experiences what it is like to have a family, in the way a family is supposed to be like, as people who love and support you unconditionally.


  * After reading their Hogwarts letters Fred comes to the conclusion that the new DADA teacher must be a witch – based on the fact that they have to get all the Lockhart books. It is the same casual sexism he has already shown when he said his mother fancied Lockhart, as this could be the only reason why she would have consulted his book about de-gnoming. Because only women could be interested in wizards like Lockhart, and the reason they are is because he is handsome. Obviously.


  * Also George remarks that Lockhart’s books are quite expensive (and they have to buy 5 sets in total), and unlike their other (probably older) schoolbooks you can’t get them second hand. But at least at my school there was always the option to lend school books for the entire school year. Then again Hogwarts provides their students already with a home and free food (and well… education) for the bigger part of the year, which leads me to the question how does Hogwarts finance itself?


  * But it also shows how self-absorbed Lockhart is, using his position as teacher to increase his book sales and probably not thinking about the families who simply can’t afford his books.


  * Ginny starts the school year, which also means that for the first time in a very long time Molly and Arthur have their home to themselves again. But it also made me wonder why Mrs. Weasley never took a job (again). It is never mentioned if she ever worked, but that also implies that childcare doesn’t exist in the wizarding world, forcing mothers to stay at home. Molly married and became a mother at a very young age, so it is possible she never had any further education after Hogwarts, and though she is a competent witch, would have had a hard time to find a job.


  * It is probably not a coincidence that Hermione picked the day Lockhart had his signing session to go to Diagon Ally. Pretty sure that by now she has already subscribed the Daily Prophet and knew about it. And speaking about Hermione’s lil crush on Lockhart: I think it is in character that the one time we see Hermione having a bit of celebrity crush it is on an author, not some famous actor or Quidditch player, who would later become her teacher. Hermione is drawn to books and authority figures after all.


  * Molly being worried what the Dursley would think if they lost Harry in the Floo network, because despite everything she knows about them she still assumes they would care, and I really need a meeting between Molly and the Dursleys where she tells them exactly what she really thinks about them.


  * I always wondered where the assumption that Lucius Malfoy is an abusive father came from, because I don’t think the text indicates that. He is strict, yes, but abusive? I think that view on him came rather from his portrayal in the movies, where he was always way more over the top (like trying to kill Harry after Harry tricked him into freeing Dobby, what were those screenwriters thinking?).


  * We also hear the Wesley twins several time referring to Draco as Lucius Malfoy’s son, assuming that if the father was a Death Eater the son must be awful as well. Sure enough Draco’s behaviour doesn’t help to prove the opposite, but characters as the twins are very quick to make assumption about people based on their heritage and the house they belong in. After all this book like no other paints the picture of Slytherin being an evil house.


  * Also, I never noticed that before, but the cabinet Harry hides in while being at Borgin & Burkes, is of course the same cabinet Draco later repairs in book 6.


  * _“‘I would have thought you’d be ashamed that a girl of no wizard family beat you in every exam,’ snapped Mr Malfoy.”_ – There is a lot of evidence that Voldemort and the Death Eaters are very misogynistic. It is not just the fact that Hermione is Muggle-born, but also that she is a girl, that makes it unacceptable for Lucius Malfoy that she is better than his son at school. There are only two women within the Death Eaters and there is a long history of violence against women when it comes to Voldemort. But even apart from the Dark side of the wizarding world, evidence suggests that the wizarding community isn’t very women friendly, as it is implied that it is normal for witches to stay at home and raise their children, because there is simply no alternative.


  * At Flourish & Blotts it is noticed that the majority of the Lockhart fans waiting outside are women, around Mrs. Weasley’s age. The only time I think we hear a male character expressing his admiration for Lockhart is Justin Finch-Fletchley, whereas all the other male characters express doubt whether Lockhart really did all the impressive things in his book. We will later learn that this is true, but it implies that the witches are all blinded by Lockhart’s good looks and his charming attitude, and only the men are capable enough to see through his persona and see who he really is, which is quite sexist.


  * _“Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that. No Malfoy’s worth listenin’ ter. Bad blood, that’s what it is.”_ – Says Hagrid, implying that some families are simply bad and evil, and everyone born in the family will be as well, which is as damaging as what the Malfoys are doing when they deem everyone unworthy with the wrong blood.




	4. Chapter 5: The Whomping Willow & Chapter 6: Gilderoy Lockhart

**_Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_   
**

**Chapter 5: The Whomping Willow**

  * _“They had almost reached the motorway when Ginny shrieked that she’d left her diary.”_ – Remember that Lucius Malfoy’s careful evil plan was almost not happening in the first place because of Ginny Weasley’s forgetfulness.


  * Of course Harry & Ron had to take the flying car, there was no other option like, I dunno, the Knight Bus, writing an owl to Hogwarts, or maybe waiting at least ten more minutes for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to return.


  * It always amazes me that Ron went through an entire year at Hogwarts with a broken wand, like how did he learn anything at all?


  * I love that the Ford Anglia just went into the Forbidden Forest and from that moment lived there like a wild animal.



**Chapter 6: Gilderoy Lockhart**

  * We never find out what happens when you ignore a Howler, but according to Neville it is worse than getting yelled at in public.


  * Anyway, I’m with Hermione here, they did deserve a bit of punishment.


  * If anything the plot around the flying car shows perfectly that Harry and Ron are still children after all, who don’t think much about the consequences of their actions (unlike Hermione who is more mature than they are). Not only did they brought themselves in danger, Mr. Weasley had to face serious consequences at work.


  * _“Professor Sprout was a squat little witch who wore a patched hat over her flyaway hair; there was usually a large amount of earth on her clothes, and her fingernails would have made Aunt Petunia faint. Gilderoy Lockhart, however, was immaculate in sweeping robes of turquoise, his golden hair shining under a perfectly positioned turquoise hat with gold trimming.”_ \- Both professors redefine their assumed gender roles, with the witch wearing dirty clothes, seemingly not caring about her physical appearance, opposed to Lockhart who is always described as the best dressed. During the series often characters like Professor Sprout are portrayed in a positive way, as hard working, down to earth people, especially if they are women who don’t care about the way they look (for example Hermione who only dresses up for special events like the Yule ball or Bill & Fleur’s wedding). Opposed to that we have Lockhart, who uses his good looks to hide who he really is, same as Tom Riddle, though not as sinister. And it isn’t until the end of book 6 that Fleur is described as vain and shallow, a character who the books constantly remind us of is breathtakingly beautiful.


  * I think Lockhart is narcissistic and self-absorbed in a way that is only surpassed by Trump. And didn’t Rowling confess that Lockhart is the only character based on a living person?


  * Within their first day Hermione earns Gryffindor already 30 points, so clearly every time Gryffindor wins the house cup it is fair to assume that she is like 90% responsible for it.


  *  I love that when Justin Finch-Fletchley introduces himself, he finds a way to compliment everyone, not just Harry.


  * _“Of course, mother was slightly disappointed, but since I made her read Lockhart’s books I think she’s begun to see how useful it’ll be to have a fully trained wizard in the family …”_ – Of course casual sexism isn’t reserved to wizards alone, Muggle-borns as Justin express it as well.


  * Oh Colin. Fast forward to book 7, but Colin’s death always hit me the most. And I think the first time I read the book I found his character just as annoying as Harry, now though I wish Harry would have been a bit nicer to him, though I understand how irritating the whole situation must have been for him. Just give the boy an autograph, will you.


  * And now I imagine Colin’s dad, an ordinary milk man, who saw his two sons attend Hogwarts, and got photos from that magical world of wonders, that would in the end cost one of his sons his life.




	5. Chapter 7: Mudbloods and Murmurs

**_Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_   
**

**Chapter 7: Mudbloods and Murmurs**

  * At some point in the books we learn that boys can’t enter the girl’s dormitory, so how exactly did Oliver Wood wake up his three female chasers for Quidditch practice?


  * I’m glad that after book 3 Rowling gave up explaining to us the Quidditch rules, assuming that by now everyone must have understand them.


  * _“There were no girls on the Slytherin team_ ” – Really, this book should have been called “Harry Potter and the casual misogyny of the wizarding world”. However, Quidditch has over the years become an actual sport that you can play, and as I recently learned in the real world the rules explicit say that each team must be mix-gendered (and really how many sports are there with mix-gendered teams?).


  * And this marks the first time we hear the “m”-word. Now many times the pureblood fanatics such as Malfoy have been described as the wizarding world’s example of racist, drawing clear parallels. Both judge people based on their heritage, thinking of people with the “wrong” heritage as second class citizen or worse. However this is seemingly the only kind of oppression we see in the wizarding world and it doesn’t make sense. Even if racism or homophobia don’t exist in the wizarding world, they do exist in the Muggle world, and as both worlds are intertwined through Muggle-born and Halfbloods, they would likely exist at Hogwarts as well. If you grew up in a racist household you don’t simply stop having a racist worldview just because you enter Hogwarts. I think this is one of the biggest problems I have with how the wizarding world is portrayed, which is as an isolated parallel society, with their own set of rules, but they constantly interact with the Muggle world, so both worlds affect each other.


  * The other thing is how different both Slytherins and Gryffindors react to Draco saying “Mudblood”. The Gryffindors are outraged, whereas the Slytherins simply try to protect Draco from physical harm and moments later can’t stop laughing when Ron accidently hexes himself. It is somehow implied that the word “Mudblood” isn’t that uncommon in the Slytherin common room. Of course not all Slytherins are the same, but if the house only accepts students with the right blood status it is likely you would find more pureblood fanatics there as in any other house, so someone like Draco would only be confirmed in his worldview instead of challenged and questioned. If you put people together in a house that are already very similar you limit their worldview instead of opening it.


  * I still don’t get why they brought Ron to Hagrid instead of the Hospital wing.


  * Not to justify Draco here but I think underneath it all he was intimidated by Hermione, who did hit a sore point when she said Draco had to buy his way in the team, and the only way he could react to it was to lash out in the most hurtful way.


  * _“Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn’t married Muggles we’d’ve died out.”_ – Meaning if you are a pureblood you are very likely a product of incest.


  * I also completely forget that it was within the very first week of school that the Chamber has been opened, as Harry first hears the Basilisk during his detention with Lockhart, that takes place on the first Saturday back in Hogwarts. And then almost two months pass until the Basilisk has its first victim.




	6. Chapter 8: The Deathday Party

**_Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_   
**

**Chapter 8: The Deathday Party**

  * One of the funs of re-reading (or re-watching) a story is that the second time around you know where the story is headed, which always makes you see certain scenes or characters in a new light. It is mentioned several times how distraught Ginny appears, and because she is Ron’s little sister we simply assume she is just another frightened child at the school, without ever suspecting her to be (unwillingly) behind the attacks.


  * _“‘You look troubled, young Potter,’ said Nick, folding a transparent letter as he spoke and tucking it inside his doublet.”_ – So ghosts write and send ghost letters? With ghost owls? Seriously, how do ghosts in the Potter universe work? We know, or it is fair to assume, that it takes a violent death to become a ghost _(“But you would think, wouldn’t you, […] that getting hit forty-five times in the neck with a blunt axe would qualify you to join the Headless Hunt?”_ ), though not everyone becomes a ghost. (I kind of remember we learned more about that after Sirius’s death, and that most people simply move on after their death) But do ghosts stay like that for eternity? Or do they eventually move on from their death? What are they doing the entire time? And looking at the Deathday party it seems as though there is an entire ghost culture and society, because apparently ghosts throw parties and travel all the way from Kent to them (The Wailing Widow!), and basically live an (after)life not that much different from the lives they had as they lived. Which is fascinating, but at the same time incredible sad, because none of them is able to get their rest.


  * Remember how Harry accidently stepped in the first Vanishing cabinet at Borgin & Burkes? Now we learn that the second Vanishing cabinet at Hogwarts has been destroyed by Peeves. Why did I never notice this before? And why were there two Vanishing cabinets connecting Hogwarts and Borgin & Burkes of all places in the first place? Did Borgin and Madame Pince had a secret affair all along?


  * I also think that the date of Nearly-Headless-Nick’s death and the fact that it is the 500th anniversary of his death is the only reference at which time the story takes place (book 2 takes place in 1992). In a way it doesn’t matter, because Hogwarts and the wizarding world are so clearly out of time, and it is only when we are back in the Muggle world, that we get glimpses at what period the story takes place.


  * I have to admit I feel a bit uncomfortable about the way Moaning Myrtle is described during the books, as the stereotypical unpopular girl, who died because she was crying at a toilet, reminding me of Hermione who had been almost killed in the first book by a troll because she was crying at a toilet. As someone who had spent a fair amount of time crying at toilets myself I wish Myrtle would have given a bit more depth, instead of the caricature we are seeing in the books.


  * I wrote earlier that the books give us no evidence that Lucius Malfoy was an abusive father, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t a truly awful person. By opening the Chamber of Secrets (or by helping to provide the means to do so) he risked that next to Harry (his true target) others could get killed as well, children on top of that. And who says Draco couldn’t have get hurt or killed as well?




	7. Chapter 9: The Writing on the Wall

**_Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_   
**

**Chapter 9: The Writing on the Wall**

  * As far as I remember book 2  is the only one that addresses the subject of Squibs, people who are born into magical families but have no magical powers of their own. Ron says that they are very rare, and it is fair to assume that most magical families feel ashamed to have a Squib in their family and that it is some sort of taboo. Remember how worried Neville’s family was that he might not be magical enough to attend Hogwarts? So what happens with these children? They can’t go to Hogwarts, but they can’t attend a normal (Muggle) school either, as they have no knowledge about the Muggle world. They are forced to fit in a world that isn’t made for them and looks down at them. I wondered why Filch took the job as caretaker if he hated children so much, but the truth is that he had probably great trouble finding a job in the magical world at all, and Dumbledore always provided a place at Hogwarts for people that didn’t fit in anywhere else (Hagrid, Lupin, etc). But as rare as Squibs are, the magical world has to overthink their treatment of them, finding places for them within their community or proving access to the Muggle world.


  * _“I think someone told me a story about a secret chamber at Hogwarts once … might’ve been Bill …”_ – Someone, at some point, looked at this quote, and thought ‘Hey, let’s make a game out of this’. Yes, this is a ‘Hogwarts Mystery’ reference, and yes I spent definitely too much time playing this game.


  * I think we all head a teacher like professor Binns, who at some point no longer gave a fuck to learn a bunch of new names every year.


  * So, the Chamber of Secrets… had the Basilisk been in there since Salazar Slytherin build the Chamber? How did it survive that long? Even if Tom Riddle had to breed a new Basilisk there it would have been decades between the first and the second opening of the Chamber. And while their look can kill it is not mentioned if they actually eat their victims, so how do they survive so long?


  * Also, building a secret murder-chamber into a school is bonkers, no wonder Slytherin had the worst reputation.


  * At some point it was said (and I dunno if it was in the books or the many additional information), that the reason why Harry was almost sorted into Slytherin is the fact that he carried a part of Voldemort’s soul unknowingly inside him. Which kind of explains his dark side and Slytherin-esque character traits as an external force, which… I don’t really like. Especially the later books (6 & 7) and characters like Draco, Snape, Regulus and Slughorn showed that not all Slytherin are evil, and in the end Harry told his own son that it would be okay if he got sorted into Slytherin. And obviously some people have character traits that fit into more than one house, so I would rather see those Slytherin traits as part of who Harry is as a character, without any judgement. (And speaking Parseltongue is kinda cool?)


  * _“If you must know, when I was three, Fred turned my – my teddy bear into a dirty great spider because I broke his toy broomstick. You wouldn’t like them either if you’d been holding your bear and suddenly it had too many legs and …”_ – How did Fred, who at this point would have been 5, transfigured a teddy bear into a spider? Like, as far as we know magic manifests in children accidently, so is this what happened? Harry made a glass vanish because he was angry and Fred turned a teddy bear into a spider?


  * _“‘I wasn’t paying attention,’ said Myrtle dramatically. ‘Peeves upset me so much I came in here and tried to kill myself. Then, of course, I remembered that I’m – that I’m –’ ‘Already dead,’ said Ron helpfully.”_ – Even Myrtle’s suicidal ideation is turned into a joke. *SIGH*




	8. Chapter 10: The Rogue Bludger

**_Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_   
**

**Chapter 10: The Rogue Bludger**

  * When it comes to the Polyjuice Potion Hermione is more insistent and fierce into making it, then Harry and Ron are, who do constantly point out the amount of rules they have to break and how much of their plan can go wrong. For one thing of course Harry and Ron already got almost expelled at the beginning of the school year, and try therefore to behave. But I think the reason why Hermione is so eager when it comes to the potion is that she is overly aware of how dangerous Hogwarts is right now for her as a Muggleborn. And from the students perspective the teachers don’t really do anything to stop those attacks. They have no idea who or what is behind them, or if they know as in Dumbledore’s case, they won’t share their information or reassure the children that they are safe. Hermione feels let down by the authority figures in her life, she is in mortal danger, and the only way to get back some control is in doing something about it, no matter how dangerous and complicated it is.


  * I kind of forget what a talented Quidditch player Harry is, catching the Snitch even though one of his arms is broken is quite impressive. And I know a lot of people think that instead of an Auror Harry should have become a teacher, but I also like the idea of him becoming a professional Quidditch player, because after all I like to see him doing something that he enjoys and is fun. Also, the reason why England likely still hasn’t won the Quidditch World Cup is because their best players (Charlie, Harry, etc) choose other career options.


  * Mending broken bones or even regrowning them is no problem for a healer, and it is implied that the magical healing system is way advanced to the Muggle one, and that perhaps a lot of the things that can kill us are not really an issue in the wizarding world, and it makes you wonder how, in a world without fear of the other, both worlds could benefit from each other.


  * Oh hey, it is Dobby again, so let’s talk about house elves again (yeah). We know that they are empathic creatures, that they have powerful magic of their own (manipulating the barrier and the bludger), but I wonder how intelligent they are. Because in many ways Dobby reminds me of a child, that can’t foresee the consequences of its actions. He stops the barrier from letting Harry (and Ron) through to the train, thinking it would stop him from going back to Hogwarts, without thinking that there might be other ways to get to Hogwarts. He hexes the bludger, thinking that if Harry is hurt enough he would be sent home, but the bludger could have killed Harry and even if he got hurt worse, he would have been sent to St. Mungos and eventually back to Hogwarts. Dobby thinks in the simplest ways of logic, but not beyond that.


  * Dobby even uses the word enslavement here, and it is a bit underwhelming how Harry reacts. Yes he cares about Dobby, but nowhere near the way Hermione reacts once she learns how house elves are treated, which is with outrage. I think Harry left out a lot when he told Ron & Hermione about Dobby, or otherwise S.P.E.W. would have been founded two years earlier.




	9. Chapter 12: The Polyjuice Potion

**_Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_   
**

**Chapter 12: The Polyjuice Potion**

  * _“Harry was just thinking that all he needed was for Dumbledore’s pet bird to die while he was alone in the office with it, when the bird burst into flames.”_ – This scene will never not be funny for me (sorry Fawkes). Also, if Hermione had been in Harry’s place she probably would have immediately recognized that Fawkes is a phoenix, and the reason why she is not the hero of the story is that she has done too much research already.  
  * _“Then he thought of the disembodied voice he had heard twice and remembered what Ron had said: ‘Hearing voices no one else can hear isn’t a good sign, even in the wizarding world.’”_ – Hearing voices is typically seen as a sign of a mental illness, and I wonder how exactly those are treated in the wizard world. Ron’s comment implies that they are stigmatized and nobody actually talks about them. During book 5 Harry goes through a serious trauma, yet it is never mentioned or offered if the school has a psycho therapist. Maybe it is because many of the typical syndromes of a mental illness can be explained through wizardry? It is possible to hear voices nobody else does if you are a parselmouth. Certain things can only be seen by those who have experienced certain traumatic events (Thestrals). Ect.
  * One of the things that made me very uncomfortable while reading was the constant reminder how big Crabbe and Goyle and also Millicent Bulstrode are. They trick Crabbe and Goyle with food instead of using a spell on them, because _“[y]ou know how greedy they are, they’re bound to eat them”_. Millicent Bulstrode is, in Harry’s words, no pixie, which is still nicer than what he thought about her the first time he saw her _(“a Slytherin girl who reminded Harry of a picture he’d seen in Holidays with Hags”_ ). Slytherin is already portrayed in this book as house of all things evil, but on top of that we have these brute characters associated with fatness. Our three heroes easily fit in one toilet cubicles, but they have to separate once they transform into the enormous evil Slytherins.
  * I love how the potion took a month to make and they never considered to find out where the Slytherin common room is (I bet Hermione knew).
  * So the Weasleys had to pay a fine of 50 Galleons for the bewitched car… remember earlier when they only had one Galleon in their Gringotts vault? How did they ever pay this?
  * Malfoy talks about wanting to help the heir of Slytherin, and that he hopes Hermione dies, and well that is because he is an awful child, who fundamentally believes that as a pureblood wizard he is above everyone. But he is also still a child, and the cruel reality of his words will haunt him all during his 6th and 7th year, because for all of his malice he could have never killed anyone.




	10. Chapter 13: The Very Secret Diary

**_Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_   
**

**Chapter 13: The Very Secret Diary**

  * I love this chapter for all the foretelling. First of all there is the rumour that Hermione has been attacked, which a short time later she will be. Then Ron warns Harry that the diary might be dangerous, which of course it is. And finally Ron jokes that Tom Riddle got his award for special services to the school for killing Moaning Myrtle, when he is indeed her murderer.


  * _“And while Harry was sure he had never heard the name T. M. Riddle before, it still seemed to mean something to him, almost as though Riddle was a friend he’d had when he was very small, and half-forgotten.”_ – Well, almost.


  * We actually have no real evidence if it was indeed Ginny who wrote the Valentine’s poem for Harry, but I like the idea that even years later, whenever Harry wants to tease his wife, he starts singing this song.


  * I wonder how exactly the diary/Horcrux worked. When Harry sees the memory he is in the headmaster’s office even before Riddle arrives there, but Riddle couldn’t have known what Dippet did there before, so how come Harry saw it? And how come Tom Riddle knew who Harry was even though the Horcrux was created decades before Harry was born? Do all the pieces of Voldemort’s soul share the same knowledge and memories, even though they are separated?


  * This is also the only time Harry sees Tom Riddle without the knowledge of who he would become, and his initial reaction is sympathy, because he can easily spot the similarities between him and Riddle who so desperately tries to avoid to go back to his Muggle home in the summer break. Hogwarts had been as much of a home to Riddle as it would later become to Harry, and in the end only the prospect that Hogwarts might get closed stops Riddle from killing more Muggleborns.




	11. Chapter 14: Cornelius Fudge

**_Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_   
**

**Chapter 14: Cornelius Fudge**

  * _“[I]n March several of the Mandrakes threw a loud and raucous party in greenhouse three. This made Professor Sprout very happy. ‘The moment they start trying to move into each other’s pots, we’ll know they’re fully mature,’ she told Harry. ‘Then we’ll be able to revive those poor people in the hospital wing.’”_ – Are the Mandrakes sentient? I mean they look humanoid, they behave a lot like humans, and suddenly I don’t like the idea that they got cut up to make a potion.


  * _“People say Muggle Studies is a soft option, but I personally think wizards should have a thorough understanding of the non-magical community[…].”_ – So Percy is giving this advice to Harry when they have to pick their new subjects for third year, because obviously if you want to work at the Ministry (as Percy does) it is useful to have at least a basic understanding about Muggles. But it is interesting that Muggle studies is seen as a soft option, perhaps because you don’t have to perform any magic in it, but also because assumingly many wizards and witches don’t care about the Muggle world. Which is different in the way we see the outright hate towards Muggles & Muggleborns from some specific wizards & witches, and yet there is a common ignorance towards and isolation from Muggles within the wizarding society.


  * _“In the end, he chose the same new subjects as Ron, feeling that if he was rubbish at them, at least he’d have someone friendly to help him.”_ – That is basically how I choose new subjects as well, wherever I could be with my friends.


  * So, within the second book we learn that slavery is a part of the wizarding world (house elves) and that it is totally legal to put people into prison, even though there is little to no evidence that they commit a crime (Hagrid). Like, was there even a trial for Hagrid? The only justification we hear is that Cornelius Fudge says that the public demands some action, which should never be enough of a reason to send someone to prison.


  * Ah, the mysterious case of the school governors. Apart from Lucius Malfoy we never find out who the other 11 are, how they got their position and what kind of authority they have exactly, other than getting rid of the headmaster. Fudge can’t intervene, so something between now and book 5 had to change in order for the Ministry to have the full power over the school.




	12. Chapter 15: Aragog

**_Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_   
**

**Chapter 15: Aragog**

  * _“Instead he contented himself with scrawling a note to Ron: ‘Let’s do it tonight.’ Ron read the message, swallowed hard and looked sideways at the empty seat usually filled by Hermione. The sight seemed to stiffen his resolve, and he nodded.”_ – The romantic subtext between Ron & Hermione doesn’t start until book 4 (or at least than it becomes super obvious), but even now it is apparent that Ron reacts different to Hermione’s absence than Harry. They both care about her, but Ron seems to be more emotional invested (when Malfoy insults Hermione the other boys have to hold Ron back from hurting Malfoy).
  * _“[I]t was well past midnight when Fred, George and Ginny finally went to bed.”_ – Okay, don’t these kids have a curfew? When do their classes start? It seems unlikely that none of teachers would check they all (especially the younger students) go to bed at an acceptable time.
  * I think the worst part of Hagrid’s absence is that probably nobody had taken out Fang for a walk. Also Fang might or might not be my new favourite character.
  *  I think I had mentioned this before but I love that the car became wild and started to live in the forest.
  * Also, no way twelve-year-old me would have gone into that forest in the middle of the night.
  * And this is how Ron Weasley got scarred for life.
  * Ok, who gave a thirteen-year-old child an Acromantula egg? Who?




	13. Chapter 16: The Chamber of Secrets

**_Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_   
**

**Chapter 16: The Chamber of Secrets**

  * _“‘The whole point of keeping the school open at this time is for you to receive your education,’ she said sternly. ‘The exams will therefore take place as usual, and I trust you are all revising hard.’”_ \- Except that they do cancel all exams at the end of the year, and I just hope this didn’t apply for the fifth and seventh years, who would take their O.W.L. and N.E.W.T.’s, because it would kind of suck if you don’t have degree because your school simply cancelled all exams.


  * Then of course there is no way how Ron would have managed his exams with his broken wand, and honestly how did he manage to learn anything at all that year? And shouldn’t there be school funds for cases like his?


  * I can’t believe that a) Hermione ripped out a page of a book, b) wrote on said page and c) Madam Pince didn’t kill her instantly.


  * _“Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken’s egg, hatched beneath a toad.”_ – Ok, this explains how the Basilisk could get so old, but still someone had to feed it from time to time? Also, it is ridiculous easy to make a Basilisk, which actually does allow the question why Hagrid hasn’t made himself a pet Basilisk yet.


  * _“[A]nd the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it.”_ – Ok, it is also ridiculous easy to kill the thing (that is if there are roosters around).


  * _“It was probably the worst day of Harry’s entire life. He, Ron, Fred and George sat together in a corner of the Gryffindor common room, unable to say anything to each other. Percy wasn’t there. He had gone to send an owl to Mr and Mrs Weasley, then shut himself up in his dormitory.”_ \- Ok, I have to talk about Percy a bit here, who gets a bit more attention in this book here. He is always portrayed as bossy and annoying, but I think what Harry and Ron and the others don’t see is how Percy as the oldest is feeling responsible for his younger siblings, next to his prefect duties. Throughout the book it is mentioned several times how distressed Ginny is, and it usually Percy who comforts her, who insists she drinks Pepper-Up-Potion when he thinks she might be ill and who knows about her having nightmares. Percy is under a lot of stress, taking care of his siblings and the younger students, and on top of that his girlfriend gets petrified and his younger sister is presumably killed.


  * _“‘D’you know what?’ said Ron, ‘I think we should go and see Lockhart. Tell him what we know. He’s going to try and get into the Chamber. We can tell him where we think it is, and tell him it’s a Basilisk in there.’”_ \- The whole year Ron shows openly his disrespect towards Lockhart and assumes (right so) that Lockhart never actually did all the amazing things in his books. And yet he is the only teacher they share their information with, which doesn’t make a lot of sense. Why not go to McGonagall, the way they originally had wanted before they learned about Ginny? They don’t trust Lockhart, and still they take him with them, and given that Harry disarms him, he is even more useless than before.


  * I am still a bit amused that the secret entry to the Chamber of Secrets is in… a girl’s toilet. Was it already a girl’s toilet when Salazar Slytherin built the thing? Did they even had taps back then? Or was it Riddle who engraved the little snake on one? And of course by the time Harry enters the Chamber this particular toilet is deserted because Myrtle haunts it, but back in Riddle’s time it wasn’t. That place was regularly used by girls, and it was because she heard a male voice that Myrtle opened her cubicle in the first place. And say it was already a girl’s toilet in Slytherin’s time, did he suspect his heir to be a girl?


  * _“Harry lowered his wand to look at the floor and saw that it was littered with small animal bones.”_ – Again, who fed the damn thing? Or do little animals just get lost there regularly?




	14. Chapter 17: The Heir of Slytherin

**_Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_   
**

**Chapter 17: The Heir of Slytherin**

  * I remember the first time I read this book how much I loved the eerie atmosphere in this chapter, especially the conversation between Riddle and Harry. The boy, who isn’t supposed to be here, who is stuck in time, who is so similar to Harry, and to who Harry thinks at one point of an old friend. But the longer they talk the clearer Riddle’s true nature becomes, and in some ways this sixteen year old version is even more scarier than the monster he will once become, because of the façade Riddle has created of himself (“ _Tom Riddle, poor but brilliant, parentless but so brave, school Prefect, model student_ ”).


  * _“‘If I say it myself, Harry, I’ve always been able to charm the people I needed. So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted. I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets.”_ \- I think of all the Horcruxes the diary might be the most fascinating, because it resembles the most a living thing. We later learn that all the Horcruxes have a sinister effect on the people close to them, but only the diary can actually interact, and create a version of Voldemort. It is not just a part of his soul but also a memory. And interestingly enough it is also aware of the future of its owner, because Riddle knows what happened to Voldemort, knows  who Harry is. And it feeds of Ginny’s darkest secrets and fears, a bit like a Dementor _._ And Voldemort of course strengthened himself as well on those who feared them; their fear gave him power.


  * I also wonder if, because it was his first Horcrux, there was a bigger part of Voldemort’s soul in it than in the other Horcruxes. Logically half of his soul should have ended up in the diary (and the next Horcrux would get a quarter of his original soul and so on), though I don’t know if math applies to creating Horcruxes.


  * There is also a deeply settled misogyny in the way Riddle constantly belittles Ginny, calling her a stupid silly girl, and her struggle to keep alive boring.


  * _“Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did …”_ – As we later learn Dumbledore of course has his own history of charming young men, who can fool those around them to follow them. Grindelwald is also a prove that Voldemort and his rise isn’t a single event, but that history is repeating itself, though in comparison Grindelwald is the lesser psychopath. Still, Voldemort wasn’t the first pureblood fanatic, he built his cult on already existing beliefs in the wizarding world, and he probably won’t be the last Dark Wizard. But there is an ongoing message how looks can be deceiving, having actually two characters (Lockhart & Riddle) who turn out to be not what they appear, teaching the reader to look beneath the surface, and to be suspicious of those who are seemingly perfect.


  * I wonder how many people are aware of the fact that Tom Riddle and Voldemort are the same person. Dumbledore knows, Harry of course, and Slughorn as well. But does Hagrid know that the person who framed him later become the most powerful Dark Wizard? And who of the Death Eaters are old enough that they already knew Voldemort at school?


  * _“You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father’s name for ever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother’s side? I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? No, Harry. I fashioned myself a new name[…].”_ \- There is power in names and in the way they shape our identity. Voldemort created himself a new name, along with a new identity, a name that one day would become so powerful people would be afraid to say it. But we already learned in book 1 that fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself. And when Harry confronts Voldemort for the final time he calls him his given name, Tom Riddle, the name he hated so much and the past he tried to hide, that helped Harry understand to defeat him. And even more so, that Harry perhaps knew more about Riddle than he himself did. Voldemort never knew that his mother had likely used a love potion to force Tom Riddle Snr into a marriage, and that his mother ironically choose to give him the name of his Muggle father, to cut all ties to her abusive wizard family. His mother never cared about her heritage as Slytherin’s descendant, and only craved for love, so much that she was willing to bewitch someone, and losing her will to live after her husband left her. And Voldemort on the other hand never cared about love, perhaps never even understood it, but only craved for power, and took pride in his heritage.


  * _“Even when you were strong, you didn’t dare try and take over at Hogwarts.”_ \- It is arguable if Voldemort never tried to take over Hogwarts because he was afraid of Dumbledore, or out of respect for Hogwarts, the first home he ever had. I don’t think he ever wanted to close or destroy the school, just remodel it in a way he saw fitting, only allowing a certain kind of wizards & witches to get education, and we see the result of that in book 7.


  * _“So. Your mother died to save you. Yes, that’s a powerful counter-charm. I can see now – there is nothing special about you, after all. I wondered, you see. Because there are strange likenesses between us, Harry Potter. Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles.”_ – Is Harry a half-blood though? Both his parents were wizards, but to Riddle the fact that Lily Potter was Muggleborn probably made her as beneath him as if she was a Muggle all along. But he also thinks of her sacrifice as a counter-charm, showing again that he never really understood the love Lily felt for her son, perhaps because he never experienced a similar love expressed to him. And lastly he thinks there is nothing special about Harry, which is indeed true, but also the reason why I liked him so much as a hero. Because Harry doesn’t have any hidden powers, he is a talented wizard, but nothing more, and yet he understood more than Voldemort ever did. Harry was never special, the prophecy didn’t even referred to him alone. He became special because Voldemort choose him after all. Voldemort, who so desperately clung to his heritage and his magical abilities, was defeated by the most common boy in the end.


  * _“Something very hard and heavy thudded onto the top of Harry’s head, almost knocking him out. Stars winking in front of his eyes, he grabbed the top of the Hat to pull it off and felt something long and hard beneath it.”_ – Never mind the giant snake, Harry was also almost killed by a heavy sword dropping on his head. Priceless.


  * _“Then, without thinking, without considering, as though he had meant to do it all along, Harry seized the Basilisk fang on the floor next to him and plunged it straight into the heart of the book.”_ – Harry Potter, accidently destroying Horcruxes since 1992.


  * I love that Ginny’s greatest concern is that she is going to be expelled and what her parents will say. Bless you child, people have been sent to prison for less.




	15. Chapter 18: Dobby’s Reward

**_Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_   
**

**Chapter 18: Dobby’s Reward**

  * I wonder if Dumbledore, at this point, already suspected that the diary was a Horcrux. By then Dumbledore knew that some part of Voldemort had survived, and he had to wonder and research how he could have survived the killing curse that was backfired at him. Or was it because of the diary and how it worked that Dumbledore finally had a clue in which direction he should look?


  * _“Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can’t see where it keeps its brain.”_ – Wise words by Arthur Weasley, Vol. 1.


  * So Harry and Ron get awards and each 200 points for Gryffindor, and yes, they saved the day and Ginny as well, and they shouldn’t be punished for risking their lives, but still… rewarding them kind of sends the wrong message as well, because they shouldn’t gone all by themselves (Lockhart doesn’t count) in the first place, and we see this in book 3 where Harry risks his life to go to Hogsmeade (believing Sirius is after him), because the lesson he has learned is that he usually somehow gets through with breaking the rules, even if those rules are there to protect his life.


  * _“‘You can speak Parseltongue, Harry,’ said Dumbledore calmly, ‘because Lord Voldemort – who is the last remaining descendant of Salazar Slytherin – can speak Parseltongue. Unless I’m much mistaken, he transferred some of his own powers to you the night he gave you that scar. […] - ‘Voldemort put a bit of himself in me?’ Harry said, thunderstruck.”_ – And this makes me wonder if say Dumbledore by then already suspected Voldemort to have created Horcruxes, did he already suspected Harry to be a Horcrux as well? I mean the whole “ _Voldemort put a bit of himself in me_ ”-part already foretells the big reveal that Harry was indeed a Horcrux, no wonder it was the most popular theory before book 7 was released.


  * _“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”_ – I think this might be one of the most important quotes in the series, because in the end it all comes down to the individual choices each characters make, because Harry and Riddle have indeed a lot in common and yet they become so different men because of the choices they each made. Voldemort believed in heritage, in destiny, it is why he had to take action after the prophecy instead of simply ignoring it. Harry, who had to carry the weight of a destiny himself, decided to not let the circumstances dictate his life, decided to become a good man, to go for the complicated instead of easy choices.


  * _“And I must draft an advertisement for the Daily Prophet, too,’ he added thoughtfully. ‘We’ll be needing a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Dear me, we do seem to run through them, don’t we?”_ – So did Lupin answer to this advertisement? Knowing that if anyone would hire him with his condition it would be Dumbledore? Because it had always seemed to me that Dumbledore had rather reached out to him and needed to convince him to accept the job.


  * We know that at least two Horcruxes had been placed in the possession of  Death Eaters. Lucius had the diary, and Bellatrix had Hufflepuff’s cup. Lucius however wasn’t aware of the diary’s true nature, otherwise he wouldn’t have given it away so carelessly. Bellatrix though seemed to know why the cup was so valuable, given her panic when she thinks someone was in her vault.


  * Did Lucius actually gave Dobby the sock though? He throw it away and Dobby catched it, but that is something different than giving someone something. Like how many wizards accidently set their house elves free while they were undressing?




End file.
